Discovering the human face of the most phenomenal Moto GP racer of all time

Valentino Rossi. If you don’t know who he is, you are not from this world, believe me. He is not an icon; he is “the icon” of motorcycling. Not just because he has signed the highest number of wins in the modern Moto GP era and the most podium appearances in the history of this sport, but because of how he wins.

He
is more than a talented rider, more than an unequalled champion; he is a natural
entertainer and a valuable man.

Talking
about his talent, it doesn’t really matter if we are talking about 2 or 4
wheels: give him something to ride with an engine to tame and he can do better
than anyone else. To some extent, the list of his triumphs is so astonishing to
be boring: he has won everything and not just once. In 15 years of Moto GP –
from 2002 to 2016 - he has achieved 6 first, 4 second and 3 third positions. All
together in 20 world championships, he has won 9 world titles and 17 podium
appearances. The numbers speak for themselves.

Yes
of course, there are finish lines through which he wrote the history of the
motorcycling and you can hear of them everywhere. It’s not difficult to find
evidences of his great achievements. There are falls, gigs, interviews, stories
that can allow you to understand the prominence of Valentino, the rider, the “Doctor”.
Ask the experts about his talent and they can tell you to take Michael Jordan,
Tiger Woods and Roger Federer and put this combination in motorcycling. Can you
imagine anything better?

I
would like to tell you something about the man.

He
was born in Urbino, in the heart of Italy. Still a child, he moved with his
family to Tavullia a small country village in the middle of the Marche region,
where the views are as gentle and stunning as the good wine and food that you
can find on everyone’s table. It might happen to you, like it happened to me a
long time ago while wandering with my push bike from Pesaro to an unknown
destination, to reach a place where everything speaks the Valentino’s language.
The village is yellow from flags hanging from the windows, the number 46 is
everywhere. There is quietness, peace, but you immediately realise that there
is something strong hidden behind the silent windows. You can feel it: it is the
pride to be the place that Valentino calls home.

This
is what makes him so real yet distant to his opponents: he races, he wins and
then he wants to go back home.

He
is the one called the “Doctor” - his crazy preciseness on detail reflect what
is required in medicine. He is the one that paints everything in yellow because
it is the colour of energy. He is the one that always rides with number 46
because it is his father’s lucky number.

But
there is more.

Close
to Tavullia there is a place called The Ranch. Again in the middle of nowhere,
there is an unusual estate. It was a farm and in some extent it still is a
farm, but a special one. Valentino’s dad bought it a few years ago with the
idea to build a personal track for his son. It was supposed to be Valentino’s
training facility functional to his career, a place where he could improve his
technique progression and bring it to a higher level, if ever possible…

The
outcome is breathtaking. It’s a track where every rider would like to ride. It
is perfectly conceived; the shape, the bends, the ups and downs, the ground.
Nothing left to chance. It’s a 2-mile flat track created to ride motocross
bikes with less tread tires to slide better. It’s a playground for expert
motorcyclists, but thanks to Valentino’s personality it is much more than a
training facility.

Valentino
is not just a competitor; he is a natural entertainer with a strong
personality. He burns with desire to compete (and win), his passion and
commitment lead him to require perfection in every single thing he does. The
Ranch is another perfect combination. It’s a hang up, a place to combine his
love for motorcycle and a drip of adrenaline with friendship, food, laughter
and good times.

It’s
the place where the passion for motorcycling fuses with the love for his land
and people; where the handover of Valentino’s experience and ability for the
new generations is led by passion and the legacy to thrive.

Valentino
loves his land - Tavullia is the place he wants to go back to after every race.
This may sound peculiar for some. He is rich, famous, loved by fans and
opponents. He could live and stay wherever he likes, but he wants to go home.
This is what makes him true, lovable and close to all of us. As Italians, too
often we are not proud enough of our heritage, land and people. We are united
only when the celebration of a soccer world championship or something related
to a sport achievement comes, then we fall apart and we complain in a whinge
that lasts forever.

Sometimes
life gives unexpected lessons and when it happens that we are far away from
home, like we are here in Australia, well, that’s the moment in which you
really appreciate where you are coming from, what you left. You start dreaming
of it, you feel sick without it. This is why I bow in front of a man like Valentino,
a man of power, a man that wrote the history of motorcycling that has decided
to give back to his land and people whatever he has been able to achieve thanks
to this heritage. He is a rider like the
father still is; he grew up with friends and people that in many different ways
allowed him to be what he is. Now he is paying back with this admirable
demonstration of loyalty sharing his success with them, creating work
opportunity there and building a future for the generations to come.

“The
helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood” – Ayrton Senna. We might not be able to understand the feelings of a
rider while bending his bike at over 300 km per hour and pushing himself beyond
any limit, but we can - and we should - understand the man.

Elaine is a Marketing Consultant with over 20 years of experience in effective business development and Events organisation in Italy, Europe and Australia. She runs her own business in Melbourne – Vital Marketing is her last successful endeavour – and nurtures a series of passions like sport, cooking and writing. She raced at international level in triathlon and cycling and represented Italy in swimming for over five years back in the 70’s and 80’s. Her life is an ongoing challenge, never give up it’s not just a credo, it’s the only way she can live her life. She is mother of two athletes: Robert, professional soccer player and Angelica, professional swimmer. Writing came into her life as a job first – she was copy writer in Italy – and then as a hobby when she moved to Australia in 2010. She writes both in Italian and English.